You Jump, I Jump
by Peppermint Stick
Summary: Ace, 'Since you took the plunge, you get the privilege of very few. It’s initiation time.' In Omnia Paratus, Logan


Author's Ramblings: Okay, I thought they could never find a guy more perfect for Rory than Tristan, but apparently I was wrong...Logan is my favorite. I'm thinking his courtship of Rory will sit quite well with many Trory fans. Although I envy Rory, I must humor myself with simply writing about a secret society with hot guys who wish to banter with you and encourage you to jump off of building holding an umbrella. Anyway, enough with my rambling. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or it's characters. If I did, then most likely Tristan would still be on it and we could have no Logan. So sad and so happy at the same time.......

**Every step you take is one step closer to death.....make every step count.   
-Unknown**

Title: You Jump, I Jump

By: Peppermint Stick

Chapter 1: I Jumped Off A Building Because I Trusted You

"No."

"Yes."

"Doyle, I can't." Roy said desperately.

"If you want to stay a member of this newspaper staff, you will."

"I can not handle a group of high school seniors."

"Yes you can, Rory, I know you can do this. That's why I assigned it to you." he smiled lightly, but it fell in an instant, "Besides, you're the only one who's free at the moment, so maybe next time you'd like to consider looking a little busier."

She shook her head, "No, I can't-" but she was cut off as she door to the paper room opened and a group of about thirty teenagers walked in, all talking loudly.

Doyle turned to Rory, "Here they are. Good luck." he walked away, leaving her alone. She opened her mouth to protest as he walked away, but her hands fell to her sides and her shoulders slumped.

Rory shook her head, walking to the door. "I'm Rory Gilmore and I'm a writer for the school paper." the kids stared back at her, half listening. She cleared her throat and continued, "So you guys are the rising Freshmen who are interested in writing for us, right?" a few nodded and Rory realized that she was loosing her audience. Hell, she'd never had them in the first place.

"So how much time would we be expected to spend writing and focusing on the paper?" she heard someone ask. People moved to reveal who'd asked the question. It was a short, green-eyed girl who had light brown hair with thick blonde streaks.

"A few hours a week, most of it's research, though." Rory tiled her head, the girl looked young....there was something about her. She looked younger than the others, but you had to look close to see it, "How old are you?" she asked.

The girl crossed her arms, "Sixteen."

"And you're a senior?"

"She skipped a grade." a boy beside her said.

"She's a genius." said another guy to her right.

She shrugged, "What can I say? I am."

Rory nodded, "And what's your name?"

"Vallory." she answered.

The kids started thinning out, moving around the room and as two girls passed by Rory she heard one of them mutter, "I know, Morgan was supposed to have her graduation party on it. Too bad it's gone."

Rory looked around and saw Doyle, who gave her a stern glance over the shoulder of the reporter he was talking to. Rory started panicking and called over the noise of the students, "So, this is the news room, and as you can see, everyone is writing......"she trailed off uncertainly as the door opened again and in came....none other than the Master and Commander himself. "And here's my good friend Logan Huntzburger, and he'll explain our research process to you." everyone turned to look at him. Rory sawVallory look him over and smirk.

Logan's head shot up at the mention of his name and he smirked as his eyes landed on Rory, "Ace..." he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "How ya doing?"

"I'm fine. And these are the rising Freshmen interested in writing for us." she nodded towards them, "You were supposed to explain the writing process to them, remember?"

He smiled easily with a look that all too clearly said 'You'll pay for this' and he turned to the group of teenagers, "Of course I do."

THAT NIGHT

Rory closed her eyes, laying back on her bed. All of her homework was done and she had nothing to do but sleep all weekend. She wasn't ready to go back to Stars Hollow, not after the episode with Dean at her grandparent's. Paris was out on a date with her history professor and she had the room to herself. She'd almost drifted to sleep when there was a tap on her window. She jumped, but relaxed to see a manila envelope taped to the glass with her name written across the front.

She slowly climbed out of bed and opened the window, looking around suspiciously. When nothing was to be found, she pulled the envelope off and looked it over. With one last wary glance around the campus, she closed the window and returned to her bed. Upon opening the package, she found another silk blindfold, this one was dark green, and a note.

_Ace,   
I have to say, it was nice the way you put me in danger with the greenies, smooth, but you forget who you're working with. Sticking your nose into other people's business is the sign of a good reporter, lucky for you, you're one of the best. Stand outside your building tonight with this over your eyes. We'll take over from there. Since you took the plunge, you get the privilege of very few. It's initiation time._

_ In Omnia Paratus _

_ Logan_

THAT NIGHT

Rory leaned against the stone wall, the night air biting at her wind whipped cheeks. The blindfold was rubbing against her eyes, and it annoyed her how it wasn't uncomfortable. If someone-not naming any names-could convince you to stand outside in the middle of the night with a blindfold over your eyes to take you to some unknown destination, the least he could do would be to give you an uncomfortable blindfold. Preferably one you could complain about long and hard, because you willingly obliged to the current situation.

'Okay', she thought to herself, 'He's obviously not coming. Why does it matter anyway? You don't want to be in the stupid Life and Death Brigade anyway. Something about initiation. Stupid initiation. Evil blonde boys.' A strong wind blew her hair over her shoulders and she jumped, it was even worse because she couldn't see anything. Marty. This was all his fault. If he'd never said anything to Logan that fateful day......but anyway, that was past. Her hands freezing to the point of possible amputation was the present.

Five minutes. She'd give him five minutes to get his ass out here and get her- she was stopped mid-thought as she felt a hand wrap around her elbow and lead her to a van, he climbed in behind her and closed the door. He hit the headrest of the driver's seat, "Let's roll."

"And we're off." the car lurched forward.

"Finn?" Rory asked, leaning back in her seat.

"Rory, pleasure to see you again." he picked up her hand, kissing it lightly.

"Pleasure to hear you again, considering I can't see-" she turned her head in the general direction of Logan, "Can I take this thing off now?"

He shook his head, "Sorry, no. Our location is top secret, Ace."

"But I can't see anything. It's negative eight pitch black outside."

He grinned, "Negative eight pitch black?"

"Shut up. Work with me here." she could tell he was smiling.

"By all means. Make it work."

"I will, now can I take it off?"

"No."

She sighed and fell silent for a moment before asking, "Where are we going?"

"If I told you that then I'd have to kill you."

"Oh please, you don't trust me? That hurts. I jumped off a building because I trusted you."

"Sorry."

"I got a note talking about initiation. What's initiation?"

He tapped her forehead lightly, "You'll figure out when you get there."

"Pretty girls shouldn't talk."

"Shut up, Finn." Stephanie said from the passenger's seat.

"See, there's a shining example right here. Our rules are loose, our woman are loose, why do they have to have so many opinion? Stephanie's beautiful, but then she opens her mouth- OW!" he yelped in pain at the sound of a hand hitting him in the head. Rory smiled and closed her eyes, falling asleep to the sound of their fighting.

Rory was jolted awake when they came to an abrupt stop, making her fall forward. She sat back up and stretched her arms, "How long have I been asleep?" she asked as Logan started to untie her blindfold.

"About an hour and a half." he pulled the blindfold off and Rory looked around, her eyes adjusting to the bright car light as Logan took her hand and helped her down. He led her through a patch of trees and into the campsite, different from the last one. She looked around by means of several camp fires, despite the late hour, as he led her to a tent similar to the last one she'd slept in, but it was green.......everything was green. Rory looked around, confused.

"What the hell?" she said quietly.

Logan grinned, "I hope you like green."

Rory turned to face him, "What's going on?"

He shook his head, pointing a finger at her, "You'll figure that out soon enough." before turning and disappearing in the crowd. Rory sighed and looked around before pushing up the flap and stepping into her tent. She was only there for a few minutes before the flap opened again and in stepped Stephanie.

She smiled at Rory, who noticed that she was wearing a green shirt and a short green skirt, she even had temporary green streaks in her hair, "Hey."

Rory returned the gesture, "Hey."

"So what do you think so far?" she asked, sitting on the cot.

"It's different."

"Yeah, it is."

Rory nodded, looking around, "You can't by any chance tell me what's going on here, can you?" she asked.

Stephanie smiled and shook her head, "Sorry. But I can tell you this: there's something under your bed. I'll be waiting outside." she stood and exited, leaving Rory slightly bemused. Climbing off of the cot, she pulled and paper bag from under it and opened it, sliding it's contents onto the bed. A sleeveless green shirt and slightly baggy green pants were revealed. Rory shook her head and pulled off her shirt.

She emerged five minutes later, fully dressed from head to foot in green, "Okay, now can you tell me what's going on?" she asked.

Stephanie looked her over, shaking her head, "Nope. And you're not done yet." she grabbed her hand and led her several yards to the right, towards her own tent. Rory looked around and saw that everyone emerging from their own temporary rooms were covered in green. The blonde girl who was leading her entered a tent like all the others and sat Rory on the cot, pulling out a bag and revealing a surprisingly large amount of makeup for two nights in the woods. "Now, just sit still, and don't jerk around." she said, pulling the cap off of a pencil of dark green eyeliner.

When Stephanie was done, Rory had on dark green eyeliner, light green eyeshadow, mascara, lipgloss, and her hair was in two low braids over her shoulders with green ribbon threaded into them. Her makeup artist stepped back and held up a mirror for Rory, who's eyes widened. "You like it?" she asked.

Rory nodded, "I don't think I've worn this much makeup since I volunteered as a clown for a town fair when I was twelve."

Stephanie smiled, sitting beside her, "You're really pretty. I can see what Logan does."

Rory turned to face her sharply, "What?"

"I can see what Logan sees in you."

"What are you talking about?"

Stephanie grinned and opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off at the sound of drums and an Indian call. She stood up, smiling at Rory, "It's time." She started to make her way out of the tent and Rory followed close behind, not wanting to get lost in the crowd.


End file.
